As we’ve noted in the past, several people are choosing to head straight to the PC for their TV content. By now, you’re understanding the hype.

StreamingMedia also reported on this topic and chose to highlight two different people who are now relying solely on online video for their news and entertainment. We thought their stories, albeit different, were compelling and extremely relate-able. Here is what they had to say:

Kimberly, is a young medical student, which due to her busy schedule, was not able to frequently catch her favorite shows on TV. Here she further notes why she prefers TV on the PC:

She simply finds that online TV fits her life better. She can see the few programs she enjoys whenever she wants. While she’s considered getting a Netflix account, enough of her friends have one that it satisfies her need for occasional movies. Several of her friends have also made the switch to solely streaming video, and she thinks that young people are more willing to give up regular TV.

The second person interviewed is Luis, a family man looking for a cheap way to watch TV on his terms, turned to watching TV on the PC. Once his family chose to go online-video only, he noted that the added effort to find streamed content encouraged his kids to watch less television and be more active, where as before they could just sit on the couch, turn on the TV and be tuned out. Here is what Luis had to say about his experiences watching TV on the PC:

“I don’t really plan on going back (to be a TV subscriber). If we did, it wouldn’t be for me; it would probably come from either my kids or my wife, but they seem fine, too…”

To further elaborate on the growing trend of watching TV on the PC, The Bulletin, a local Oregonian paper, noted a good stat:

Forrester Research released a report in January noting that while cable and satellite providers reach roughly 100 million homes in the U.S., computer-based television viewing is growing, driven largely by adults ages 18 to 34 who like to watch content when and where they choose.

What do you think? Now that we’ve shared the story of Kimberly and Luis, now let’s hear your story. Are you watching more TV on the PC? Busy schedule, finances?

Nielsen Online’s latest report found that the average person in the U.S. watched more than three hours (191 minutes) of online video in March. This equates to a 13 percent increase over similar data from February.

The stats indicate one thing: online video is growing in preference.

Hypothetically, if we continue to grow at this rate, by the end of the year people may be watching up to eight hours of online video a month – which equates to around 15 minutes a day!

CNET News also covered the findings, further noting that video streams totaled 9.7 billion in March, a 9 percent increase from February and a 38.8 percent increase from the same period last year. Still dominating in the online video market is Google’s YouTube, followed by Hulu and Yahoo!

Windows Media Center once again hosted “The Pitch”- a local event that brings about bloggers, reporters and news enthusiasts to talk about a common topic: the media!

The event was hosted by Jason Preston of Eat Sleep Publish and created a discussion around new business models for news and new media. The recent restructure of the Seattle PI, definetely makes this a very hot topic among. Our very own Ben Reed, Senior Product Manager for Windows Media Center at Microsoft, participated in a panel with Hanson Hosein, Director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington and local tech blogger and radio host, Brian Westbrook. The three led a discussion around new business models for journalism. Although it wasn’t directly related to the newspapers, Ben’s statistics on the increase in online video usage showcased the rapid changes in changes of TV viewing habits. As newspapers become digital and they beef up their video capabilities, online video will be part of the mix and we foresee that they will face the same monetization questions with video than with print.

Several attendees of The Pitch emphasized the importance and success businesses have when focusing on “customization” and “experience” for the consumer. The discussion often times switched between personalization within devices and then different applications that give consumers the best technology experience they are looking for, these platforms maybe provide the solution to new busienss models to sustain journalism. Hanson reinforced that for any business model, one must incorporate multi-media strategy as statistics and studies prove that we are engaging and living more digitally.

Now featuring the second of our TV on your PC sports club teammates, Joel Hollingsworth, or as many of you refer to him, “Rocky Top Talk” is a huge sports advocate from the Tennessee area.

He mainly writes about the Tennessee Volunteers and through his sports notoriety, Joel has been interviewed by NBC Sports, ESPN and the Sports Tap radio program. Even more interesting, Joel is the megaphone behind the College Football Blogger Awards, where he created a united effort to promote the college football blogosphere.

Taking time out of his hectic schedule, Joel chatted with us about merging blogging with his work schedule and how he best communicates with other sport enthusiasts like himself.

Q. You said you love writing as your creative outlet, how is it different to manage a blog for sports fans?

One of the great things about writing about sports is that there is new material every time a game is played. Each game tells its own story, and as the season plays out, the season begins to tell a story of its own. All the blogger has to do is pay attention and spot the developing theme. There are certainly many different kinds of fans, but the ones that frequent sports blogs tend to be very passionate and intelligent folks with highly stressful day jobs, and we recharge our batteries during off hours by immersing ourselves in pure escapism.

Anyone who has browsed through the Internet or flipped on a TV channel knows that a current hot topic is online video and connected entertainment.

Through entertain integration, consumers are no longer having to choose between their TV or their PC as they can rely on both to access and enjoy their same entertainment content.

InformationWeek posted an interesting article, in which they note a study from Knowledge Networks that shows that online-video sites such as Hulu, have tripled in the last 2 years and now reach 28 % of Internet users ages 13 to 54. That’s a large age range, but it would be interesting to know the specific details on age, gender and region.

Interestingly enough, the article also notes that a majority of online video users (87 %), rely on these sites to watch current shows while 40 % use the sites to watch last season’s episodes. I have to wonder then, do those 40 % of viewers who watch old content rely on the TV to watch the shows on live time?

Brandon Worley is your average sports and hockey enthusiast, who after participating in many blogs, became a contributor to Defending Big D, a Dallas Stars blog in SB Nation. Now, Branden is a member of our TV on your PC Sports Club and is partnering with us to provide insight and a better understanding of how sports fans can better use Windows Media Center.

We chatted with Brandon a bit to learn more about his sports knowledge and interest and how he turned a passion into the voice behind a fast-growing and extremely popular sports blog.

We chatted with Brandon a bit to learn more about his sports knowledge and interest and how he turned a passion into the voice behind a fast-growing and extremely popular sports blog.

Tell us a bit about your background in sports blogging and how it turned into running DefendingBigD.com

It all started in February of 2008. I was a regular reader of the Dallas Cowboys blog Blogging The Boys and the manager there, Dave Halprin, put out a call looking for some guys to help write for his site. I sent in my application and he picked me up. I started writing 4-6 posts a week there and my focus was on writing original, objective analysis and musings on the Dallas Cowboys without letting my fandom interfere with my writing. In the Dallas Cowboys’ world so much is hinged on sensationalism and trying to make the wildest claims possible, I was proud that I became known for my level headed approach to covering the team. Daily traffic nearly tripled and BTB was cited several times across the web by mainstream sports websites. When the site merged with another highly-regarded Dallas Cowboys website, The Blue and Silver Report, Blogging The Boys became one of the most visited and popular team site on the web.

You’ve heard of ratings, right? In the TV and online world Nielsen is the boss of metrics. The industry lives or dies by these ratings, so Nielsen numbers are taken very seriously. We’re happy to announce that our little online poll raked in similar results as Nielsen’s Inauguration Day findings.

We both found that CNN.com and MSNBC.com were the Online destinations of choice in the U.S. to watch this historic event. Both sites provided a variety of sources and ways to enjoy the inauguration-whether through radio pod cast, live streaming or blogging.

A big part of this was that people had to go to work and be away from their TVs, but thanks to technology we didn’t have to miss this historic moment. When years go by, we will get asked “Where were you when Obama took his oath?” and many of us will say: “at work, watching it on my computer”.